Our airlines put on the most absurd of “sales,” and how do we respond? We give them record passenger numbers. That’s how we respond.

Check it out. Air Canada and WestJet this week each posted record numbers for the month of December. More than 80 per cent of their seats are sold.

But have you gone to one of their websites lately to try to line up a ticket? I have. And I left with blood on the floor and shaking hands.

Examples? A departure for Vancouver on WestJet on Saturday Feb. 23rd, returning Saturday March 2, was listed at $704. And this was after I saw they had extended their New Year’s Sale, sale being the operative word.

Air Canada wasn’t much better. I checked out a flight to from Toronto to Los Angeles on the same dates and the computer spit back (viciously, I might add) a number of $660.

And these are sales? Geez, thanks.

But do I blame them? No, I don’t. No more than I blame baseball players who negotiate contracts for $5 million after hitting .276 with 12 home runs and who watch fans line up for tickets at the Rogers Centre or Dodger Stadium.

Of course Air Canada will charge as much as it can. Ditto for WestJet and Porter and Transat and R. A. Dickey and Phil Kessel and Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment. It’s called economics. It’s called capitalism.

Last time I checked, none of us had to fly to Vancouver or L.A. for a week’s vacation in February. Yeah, maybe we want to visit relatives or take care of business. But most of us don’t HAVE to fly.

Yet we do. In record numbers. So we’re either pretty stupid or we’re all making more money than I thought we were, and I suspect that’s not the case even in the-home-of the-surging-dollar-and-relatively-safe-economy-compared-to-the-rest-of-the-crummy-world-Canada.

Often I recommend folks check out flights from Buffalo and avoid the huge taxes and government fees that get slapped onto Toronto travel types (and on airlines, in fairness). Airports across the border from Canada are reporting huge increases in Canadian visitors, and it’s easy to see why.

When I looked for flights to Orlando from Buffalo-Niagara this week for Feb. 23-30 the best I saw on Expedia was $225 on Delta, with a stop in Atlanta. Pretty good. From Toronto to Orlando on Expedia? $374 for an Air Canada ticket. Not outrageous, but if you had a family of four you’d save $600 by crossing the border. Even if you add in a night at a hotel and gas, you’re still probably up $400 at day’s end.

I’m not sure what to tell you, really. You can try Buffalo-Niagara or even Detroit. But for most of us, it’s a pretty big hassle. Which means we’ll continue to trudge to Pearson and pay. And pay. And pay.

Travel EditorJim Byers’ blog appears five days a week at thestar.com/travel. You can write to him at jbyers@thestar.ca or follow him on Twitter @jimbyerstravel.

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